Istanbul - Turkey | November 2007
@ Apartment Project

_ read interview published on newspaper RADIKAL

Text by Asli Ocal

“We are leaving. Thank you Turkey.”

Festus Okey, dreaming to be a football player, came to Turkey two years ago. How could he know that this journey which has started with a hope to reach a better life would end up with these words written on his coffin? It appears that these few words resume the undesirable presence of asylum seekers on these lands. Considering “illegal” migrants and asylum seekers as potential criminals and drug dealers seem to legitimize the violence and the discrimination they are subjected to.

Globalization enables the free movement of product, service and capital while free movement of people has become an utopia especially for citizens of developing and Third World countries. For the countries where political instability, economic crisises and ethnic conflicts remain, in addition to congestion of the legal migration ways, migration to the democratic Western countries have raised the question of illegal migration and asylum. Increasing controls at the borders to prevent the entrance of migrants in Western countries and demoting the fact of migration into the security issue, both have effects on the direction of international migration flows to Turkey.

In last 20 years, due to its geographical position as defined the last stop before the transition to European countries, Turkey witnesses high rates of migration and asylum because of repressive regimes in the Middle East (Iran and Iraq) and wars (invasion of Afghanistan by Soviet Union; Gulf War) during 1980’s. Turkey has a role of “bounce board” while crossing to Western countries, however transit migration in the country is becoming permanent. Nowadays, even though some steps have been made during the integration of Turkey with the European Union, Turkey has an “asylum policy” based on the geographical limitation which only gives refugee status to European asylum seekers.

Turkey was one of the few countries which ratified the fundamental law of refugee rights on international level, the 1951 Convention related to the Status of the Refugees, in condition of a time and geographical limitation. Time restriction, which meant to grant refugee status for asylum seekers fleeing from persecutions prior to 1951, has been cancelled when Turkey has signed the Protocol in 1967. In the meantime, the geographical limitation which attributes refugee status only for European asylum seekers was preserved. In 1980s, with the international pressure, increasing number of asylum seekers entering to the country from the regions such as Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and Iraq, Turkey needed to vitalize the 1994 Regulation. According to this Regulation, non-European asylum seekers were also granted temporary protection thanks to a residence permit during the procedures of resettlement in a third country. Therefore, asylum seekers who come from Middle East, Asia and Africa due to the continuing wars were given the possibility to apply to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for seeking asylum in a third country.

However, both the long and bureaucratic process of the asylum application – which could end up with an eventual rejection – and the obligation of residing in satellite cities where there are very rare job opportunities, both are the main reasons why many asylum seekers do not approach UNHCR for seeking asylum. Moreover, the biggest cities in Turkey as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir are not included in the 26 satellite cities. The lack of social assistance in satellite cities leads asylum seekers who are already economically vulnerable to go to Istanbul rather than apply for international protection. Istanbul, as a huge metropolis where trades and services are concentrated, is very appealing for international migrants either for illegal job opportunities or for informal networks leading to western countries. Though, the asylum procedure begins after the registration in the police station, which contacts the Minister of Interior supposed to communicate to in which of the 26 satellite cities the asylum seeker would be settled. Finally, he/she can apply to UNHCR in order to be resettled in a third country. During this waiting process which sometimes takes few years, they can neither benefit from social services nor accommodation in satellite cities. Asylum seekers have to register regularly in the satellite city without having any rights to free movement. In addition to the daily expenses, another inconvenienence is that the registered asylum seekers who do not have any regular employments have to personally afford the fees for residence permit, which stands an important financial burden. Sometimes just because they cannot pay for these expenses, they decline into irregular status.

The resettlement of refugees in a third country causes a temporary understanding of this issue. In the case of Turkey, illegal networks fill the institutional gap due to the inadequacy of asylum policy supposed to protect refugees. At this point, the border between asylum seekers and irregular migrants becomes blurred. Accordingly, asylum and irregular migration become two processes that complement each other. This situation displays one of the main paradoxes of asylum seekers in Turkey maybe even in most of the countries in the world: while legal processes fail to provide them international protection, their illegal/irregular statuses prevent them to leave or legally stay in the country. If there will not be any actions taken, international migration does not leave temporary marks but permanent ones. Turkey’s refugee reality reached an irreversible point since the “ignoring process” of this issue ended up with the death of Festus Okey, a Nigerian asylum seeker under legal protection who had been caught on August 20th, 2007 by Beyo?lu Police Headquarters for the claim of carrying drugs.